Sunday, 12 February 2012

The Old Dark House (1963)

It must have been murder. She always knitted so carefully.

Quite a nice little surprise here from William Castle (The Tingler, 13 Ghosts and The House on Haunted Hill). The very thing that Castle fans hate about the film is exactly what endears it to me. Its not a horror.

The best way to describe the movie is as an Ealing comedy made by Hammer! It has all of the excellent style you would expect form the latter and the brilliant characters epitomised by the former. Telling the story of a family living under the terms of a bizarre will the plot of the movie bears little scrutiny but the movie fulfils its purpose of filling 1 hour and 30 minutes of empty life admirably as the Femm family are bumped off one by one…

If you can get your hands on this one it is well worth a look. As a character piece it is excellent with talent coming from its pores. Plot wise it isn't so clever but when everyone is as watchable as this… so what.